A SEARCH of a Greek airliner was under way last night after the plane was forced to divert to Stansted airport for an emergency landing following a bomb threat.

Police said well-rehearsed procedures had immediately been followed after an anonymous call to a Greek newspaper alerted authorities to the possibility of a bomb on board Olympic Airways flight 411 from Athens to New York's JFK airport.

All 301 passengers and crew were evacuated after the plane was rerouted to Stan-sted in Essex, escorted by RAF Tornado jets.

A spokesman for Essex ambulance services said about 30 passengers were being treated for a variety of conditions, which were not serious.

Essex Police Assistant Chief Constable Liam Brigginshaw said officers were working methodically to check a substantial amount of hold baggage and five tonnes of cargo that the plane was carrying.

"We are not dealing with anything like a hostage situation or a terrorist attack," he said.

John Wescott, airport duty manager, said the operation had been handled extremely well.

Since the September 11 attacks, it was normal procedure for threatened planes to be accompanied into Stansted, the UK's designated hijack airport, by RAF fighter jets.

The alert came after a Greek daily newspaper, Ethnos, received the anonymous telephone warning.

According to a tape, the caller said: "Flight 411 Olympic for America has a bomb for Iraq."

In a second call, a voice that sounded like a different person said: "Are you listening? Flight 411 Olympic for America, bomb. America will see. Six o'clock message for you."